Painting

Interdisciplinary painting

 Painting is one of the oldest and most traditional art mediums throughout human history. The aim of the painting department at the Estonian Academy of Arts is to support young artists in the development of their practice and to provide them with as broad a context as possible to understand painting in the third decade of the 21st century. We focus on the creation of the original artwork, which takes into consideration the history of painting and its techniques, contemporary society and art, and seeks cohesion and contact with other forms of media.

While painting is one technical approach among others in the toolbox of a contemporary artist, our main focus is on painting as a way of thinking. The study of painting includes acquiring the general knowledge and skills inherent to art as well as the discovery of the technical and conceptual opportunities provided by painting.

A painting on canvas is a very traditional medium with a long history and although the painting department at EKA values historic traditions, it also focuses on the experimental and the playful. The canvas may not always be the canvas in the traditional sense; it may be grandmother’s old slipper or a potato from Balti Jaam market. A space may be a canvas, just like an installation, video, sound piece or even a participatory performance can be a painting. The context that surrounds it is as important as the canvas itself – a painting is composed of its own materiality (its art and structure), but also of the mechanisms that remain outside the canvas. Studies at the painting department at EKA combine critical thinking with traditional skills – our strength is our ability to connect these two.

Opening of the exhibition “Pool with the moderate temperature” in ARS project room, 2023.

A view to Brenda Purtsak’s and Eero Alevi’s exhibition “Pretence” at EKA Gallery, 2020. Photo: Stanislav Stepashko

News and events

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“Gentle Gestures of Self” at EKA Gallery 7.–31.03.2024

GENTLE GESTURES OF SELF 7.–31.03.2024 Opening: 7.03. at 6 pm Participating artists: Andre Joosep Arming, Annamaari Hyttinen, Cloe Jancis, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar, Taavi Rekkaro, Johanna Saikkonen, Marleen Suvi, Elo Vahtrik Curator: Kaisa Maasik The group exhibition "Gentle Gestures of Self" brings together a selection of contemporary self-portraits. The paintings and photographs primarily ...
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Alexei Gordin at Täisnurga Gallery

13.02-20.02 Alexei Gordin’s exhibition “This School Produces Useless Losers” will be open at Täisnurga Gallery. The exhibition opening will be held on 12.02. at 18:00. The exhibition is focused around the adventures of one artist in the world of Delfi comment section. It is said that there is no need to prove anything to anyone on the internet, but reality shows that users ...
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Lepik and Purtsak the Monumental Gallery of the Tartu Art House

On Friday, 2 February at 5 p.m., the joint exhibition “Urge“ by Lisette Lepik and Brenda Purtsak will open in the monumental gallery of the Tartu Art House. The curator of the exhibition is Kerly Ritval. The exhibition brings together the artists and the curator to examine the diverse and mysterious nature of love. They explore boundaries and express in art what drives and fulfils ...
Foto: Mia Tohver

Assessment Marathon at EKA Gallery 01.–20.12.2023

Open Mon-Sat at 15.00-18.00 December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery. Works in contemporary art, prints, installation, sculpture and painting curricula will be on display. On each morning of ...
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Alice Kask and Neeme Külm at the Tartu Art House

On Friday, 17 November at 5:00 p.m. Alice Kask and Neeme Külm will open their joint exhibition “Something Righter in This” in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House.  The exhibition is seemingly a continuation of the show “In Vanity Alone”, which Alice and Neeme organised in the Tallinn City Gallery a year ago. At the same time, it is also not. While the selection at that time was firmly ...
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Exhibition “How to be Here”

Exhibition How to be Here by the 3rd year students of the department of painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts will be opened in the hall of exhibitions in the library of the University of Tartu at 18:00 on Monday, October 16th, 2023. Participating artists are: Karola Ainsar, Anaïs Dubois, Maria Hindreko, Liisa-Lota Jõeleht, Stanislav Alexander Mihheljus, Daria Morozova and Marc Léger ...
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Holger Loodus in Vaal Gallery

On Friday, 15th of September at 6 pm Holger Loodus will open his solo exhibition titled “Silver Bullet / Dinner for Four” at Vaal Gallery. The exhibition brings together two parallel narratives presented as a cohesive unity through the mediums of painting and video. The series of paintings titled “Dinner for Four” is about you and me and the unknown guests who come to ...
Gedvil Rästas

Kelli Gedvil and Kristen Rästas in Draakoni Gallery

On September 6, 2023 at 18.00, the co-exhibition of Kelli Gedvil and Kristen Rästas Wake Me Up, When It’s All Over will open in Draakon Gallery. Wake Me Up, When It’s All Over, the co-exhibition of Kelli Gedvili and Kristen Rästas, poetically reflects on the introverted urge to find shelter from everyday sensitivities and encapsulate in the digital world. The artists are focused on creating ...

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Location

Lembitu 12, Tallinn, Estonia